Tuesday, November 9, 2010

The Cold Shoulder Seethe.

As a child my mother and I were very close. She was a loving and happy person, full of life. She is now a ghost of who she once was. She suffers from many Lyme-related symptoms but nothing has been done. I miss her. The person that resides within is no longer the person I knew.
Lyme has destroyed my family and left a decaying house where joy once lived.
I have tried for many months to encourage my mother to get tested for Lyme and seek treatment. This request has been denied over and over. However, recently she finally agreed and she went to see her primary care doctor. This being the same doctor that is so very supportive and understanding of my diagnosis, but I guess the war never changes, she was rebuked upon asking for a Lyme test and asked the same tired questions:

"Do you feel sick?"

"Are any of your symptoms new?"

"Did you ever notice a rash?"

"Do you really think you have Lyme or just want to know?"

As if any of this matters, really! It hurt me to see someone I have a great deal of respect for fall into the same line of ignorance displayed by those still deeply critical of Lyme Disease as a serious illness. It is a disgrace.
I fear for my mother. I've watched her deteriorate over the years, slowly becoming a shadow of herself. This too has been my story.
It seems in many ways to be our punishment for a heresy that is not our own- to watch ourselves decay while our critics dig mass graves to bury their lies. Our personal tragedies the culmination of political betrayal.

How many lives is it going to take? How many of us have to become bedridden, debilitated, disabled, paralyzed? How many families have to be destroyed before someone listens?
IDSA, CDC, Washington:

How many of us have to die before the blood on your hands becomes too much to ignore?